Russia's top diplomat said that last year demonstrated growth in conflict potential

MOSCOW, January 16. /TASS/. The rules-based international order pursued by the West implies short-term solutions to global issues and pressure against unwanted countries, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated at his annual conference devoted to the results of 2018.

"The situation in the world remained challenging. In 2018 conflict potential had been growing, first of all due to stubborn reluctance of some Western states led by the United States to admit the reality of the forming multipolar world and their strive to continue imposing their will by using military, economic and propaganda levers," Lavrov said.

"We saw the attempts to usurp multilateral institutes, erode their interstate character and replace universal norms of international law by a sort of rules-based order," Russia’s top diplomat noted. This term hides the desire to invent rules based on political environment and in the interests of using them as a tool of exerting pressure against unwanted states, and very often against their allies.".